Architecture faculty projects shortlisted for Architizer A+ awards

By DAVID J. HILL

Two separate projects designed by School of Architecture and
Planning faculty members are in the running for recognition from a
global architecture and design competition.

Both projects are nominated in the Popular Choice category in
Architizer.com’s A+ Awards competition. Western New Yorkers
are encouraged to cast their votes through April 1.

The Architizer A+ Awards competition features more than 100
categories, including juried and people’s choice contests.
The full list
of categories is available online. Winners will be announced
April 12 and will be recognized as part of a gala May 12 in New
York City.

Architizer bills itself as the world’s largest online
community of architects. The Architizer A+ Awards competition is
the largest awards program focused on promoting and celebrating the
year’s best architecture and products.

Rendering of High Living, a multi-unit residential concept created by Dioinno Architecture, whose founding principal, Jin Young Song, is a UB assistant professor of architecture. Photo: Dominik Imseng

The projects are:

“He, She & It,” a unique new artist space in
Buffalo’s Parkside neighborhood designed by the Buffalo-based
firm of Davidson Rafailidis, whose principals — Stephanie
Davidson and Georg Rafailidis — teach in UB’s School of
Architecture and Planning. It’s nominated in the
Concepts-Architecture-Workspace category. Click
here to go directly to the voting page.

“High Living” is a multi-unit housing concept
designed for Dharavi Slum, one of the largest slums in the world,
in Mumbai, India. The concept was created by Dioinno Architecture,
whose founding principal, Jin Young Song, is an assistant professor
of architecture at UB. It is nominated in Typology
Categories-Residential-Unbuilt Residential. Click
here to go directly to the voting page.

He, She & It is a collection of three distinct buildings for
three spatial needs, collaged into one structure. The
1,400-square-foot building houses works spaces for a painter
(“he”), a ceramist/silversmith (“she”) and
a greenhouse (the “it” is the seedlings and plants).
Each space features a distinctive atmosphere for its respective
user. Architecture student interns assisted Davidson and Rafailidis
in all phases of the project, from design to permitting and
construction drawing to presentation modeling.

Davidson is a clinical assistant professor and Rafailidis an
assistant professor of architecture at UB.

High Living features a set of prefabricated connecting towers
made out of repurposed shipping containers. It is designed as a
“radical but realistic cure” to issues of public
health, safety and well-being in Dharavi Slum. Dioinno Architecture
has offices in Buffalo and Seoul. Song is an assistant professor of
architecture at UB.